Expert Background: Dr. Thomas L. Read is the Principal and CEO at A. Read Consulting, LLC. He received his PhD. from Stanford University in 1972 and has over 25 years of manufacturing experience in electronics, metallurgy, factory safety, failure analysis, glass fracture, glass failure and bottle failure. As a member of the electronics industry, he has earned process patents and has an extensive background in manufacturing techniques.

In parallel, Dr. Read has spent over twenty five years as a consultant to attorneys and engineers. He has given more than 100 depositions and has appeared in court numerous times.

Company Profile: Read Consulting, LLC is a full service laboratory providing services in the following areas:

During normal operation, the arm on an automatic wafer test station failed. Root cause failure analysis determined that the drive shaft on the right angle gear motor used to raise and lower the manipulator arm had failed first.

This grinding wheel was part of a product liability and personnel injury case. It was claimed that the subject wheel had unexpectedly failed (i.e. flown apart) and an escaping piece had hit the plaintiff in the face causing serious injuries. According to the user, the grinder with the wheel was purchased approximately one hour before the grinding wheel failure.

A failed plastic lawn chair was examined to determine the cause of failure. This chair failed on the premises of a restaurant In this study the subject chair is examined and compared to several exemplar purchased at the same time. The objective of this study is to determine the cause of failure.

Glass Failure Analysis Expert Witness performs a failure analysis of a several tempered glass doors that had "spontaneously" failed at a construction site. The objective of this glass failure analysis is to determine the cause of failure and make recommendations to the contractor.

Before expending the effort necessary to reverse engineer a device or object, it must be definite that the object under study is not covered by one or more patents. This avoids a dispute over patent violations. Once it has been established that no patent coverage exists, one can use multiple techniques to reverse engineer a product. These are summarized below:

The cracked tank was first inspected in the "as received" condition. In this condition it was cracked, but it was still whole. Next, the failed tank was separated by pulling it apart. This was done to expose the fracture surfaces of the main crack. This allowed for a complete failure analysis and for a determination of where the crack initiated.

Glass fractography is the most effective method for determining why a glass object, such as a bottle, failed. This technique consists of examining the fracture surfaces of the failure for artifacts such as Wallner lines and using them to trace the crack back to its origin. Once the origin has been identified, it can be examined in detail with a microscope to determine the cause of the failure.

Note: Glass Fractography is the most effective method for determining why a glass object, such as a bottle, failed. This technique consists of examining the fracture surfaces of the failure for artifacts such as Wallner lines and using them to trace the crack back to its origin

Kurt D. Humphrey has over 30 years of commercial Microelectronics and High-Tech Materials Design and Process Development, Corporate R&D Project Management, Reverse Engineering / Failure Analysis, and Patent / SME Consulting experience. With access to the best research tools, databases, labs and test equipment available, he is able to solve the most complex Intellectual Property technology issues.

An accomplished inventor, Mr. Humphrey holds patents in the areas of oxygen sensors, MEMS, and semiconductor process technology as a result of his innovative work with General Motors Corporation, United Technologies, and Rockwell Science Center. Before launching his own IP and patent technical consulting business, he served as Director of Engineering Programs at TAEUS International managing numerous patent evaluation and product investigation projects for several Global 25 high-tech companies in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Korea.

Litigation Support - Kurt Humphrey offers forensic engineering and SME services to attorneys representing both Plaintiff and Defendant. His expertise is called upon for infringement litigation, IPR/PGR petitions and responses, expert reports and testimony, prior art, invalidity and FTO searches, product investigations and reverse engineering, claim charting and proof packages, and failure analysis.

Envista Forensics is a global leader in Forensic Engineering & Recovery Solutions. They provide Cause & Origin, Failure Analysis, Fire and Explosion Investigations, Accident Reconstruction, Damage Evaluations and Equipment Restoration Services following disasters of all kinds. Envista has served the insurance, legal and risk management industries for over 25 years. Their Experts travel globally from 19 offices located across the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Singapore.

Envista's experience counts when equipment, systems, structures, or data have been threatened by catastrophe or litigation. Their experts and advisors determine cause and responsibility, and identify the nature and extent of damage or loss and provide a full range of solutions to protect their assets. Envista's technical professionals are trusted advisors and industry leaders. Their expertise is broad and deep, capable of withstanding all forms of scrutiny. Envista's services are available globally so that certainty is assured no matter where in the world it is needed. As the recovery from disasters has grown more complex, Envista has developed a comprehensive array of services to help their clients and has associates located around the globe to provide assurance no matter the type of loss or location of the disaster.

Envista helps attorneys quickly get to meaningful answers on the many technical issues at the center of a dispute. Their engineers have decades of experience working with both defendants and plaintiffs. They offer effective Expert Witness Testimony, with the ability to communicate effectively, build rapport with juries and judges, and maintain adherence to structured, methodical approaches in drawing conclusions are all extremely critical. LWG Consulting understands how critical the selection of an expert can be, and we understand what makes experts effective. Their court qualified experts have extensive experience providing expert testimony on a wide variety of engineering and technical matters.

All is quiet at 10:30 pm until a nurse notices water on the 2nd floor hallway. Building maintenance is called and discovers a ruptured pipe fitting in a bathroom on the 2nd floor. The water is shut off at 10:45 pm but unfortunately the damage has been done. It is later discovered that water penetrated through perforations in the ceiling in the CT suite on the 1st floor exposing the 16-slice CT gantry and patient table to water.

The role that water plays in our existence is well understood. Without it, most living things will rapidly wither and die. Equally catastrophic of course, are the consequences of too much water. Not only to living things, in terms of widespread flooding, but also in terms of damage to machinery and equipment from exposure to water.

An ominous cloud of smoke continues to billow as the sprinklers rain water throughout the facility. The production manager's mechanical and electrical equipment is rapidly deteriorating, and within hours, the previously pristine equipment normally used to manufacture precision circuit boards will have a thin coating of flash rust with further damage forthcoming.

Doctors and nurses need to make quick, educated decisions to minimize the impact of difficult situations. These decisions are based on the practitioner's years of experience, their education, the science and technology available, and with the assistance of critical analytical and diagnostic equipment.

A water pipe breaks in a healthcare provider's facility, saturating an MRI control cabinet. The manufacturer is called in and spends $200,000 on attempted repairs. The unit still doesn't work. The manufacturer says the entire unit needs to be replaced, at a cost of $240,000.

Arun Kumar, Ph.D. has 34 years of experience in Metallurgy, Materials Science and Failure Analysis of Metallic and Non-Metallic Materials at Rockwell International, Hughes Aircraft Company and EAG Laboratories. He manages and supervises approximately 17 engineers and technicians performing a variety of analytical services and failure analysis.

Edward S. George PE, has over 30 years of experience in the field of Product Liability and Failure Analysis.

Mr. George earned his BS and MS degrees from the University of Florida Department of Materials Science and Engineering, graduating with a specialty in metallurgy. He is a licensed professional engineer in the State of Florida. Mr. George is a member of The National Society of Professional Engineers, The American Welding Society, The National Association of Forensic Engineers, The Florida Engineering Society, American Water Works Association, and The International Society for Fall Protection.

Mr. George has experience in a variety of material failures including Metals, Polymers, Plastics, Composites, Ceramics, Glass, and Porcelain.

Litigation Support - A court-qualified expert, Mr. George has over 13 years of experience and has testified in depositions and trials. His forensic training is complemented by his industrial experience including:

Dr. Charles R. Anderson has long specialized in the Characterization of Surfaces, Interfaces, Thin Films and Coatings. Since 1972 he has applied surface and near-surface analysis techniques such as x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS or ESCA) and Auger microprobe to the solution of surface chemistry and coating problems. He worked for the U.S. Navy and Lockheed Martin Laboratories prior to starting his own laboratory in 1995.

Dr. Anderson served as an officer of the ASTM Committee E-42 on Surface Analysis and as U.S. Expert on several sub-committees of the ISO Technical Committee 201 on Surface Chemical Analysis. He especially enjoys integrating the results of multiple analytic techniques (surface analysis, thermal analysis, FTIR, SEM/EDX, optical microscopy)to solve tough materials problems.

Dr. Anderson has extensive experience in materials science as a result of solving the materials problems of many industries with the aid many analytical techniques. He is available to provide Expert Witness Services for legal matters involving Materials Failure, Intellectual Property Theft, Misrepresentation, Failure to Meet Contract Specifications, Materials Identifications and Characteristics, or Quality Issues. To ensure the accuracy and integrity of his testimony, Dr. Anderson and his staff independently analyzes the relevant materials in most cases.

Henry Chamberlain has 50 years of experience in the Glass Industry. His expertise includes just about all aspects of glass from engineering design, manufacturing, strengthening, testing, quality control, installation, fractography, and failure analysis of glass and glazing systems. His experience ranges from automotive, architectural, and industrial glass applications to glass consumer products.

Mr. Chamberlain has held numerous leadership positions in professional associations and is a well-respected expert within the glass industry community. Since 1996, he has contributed to many different publications and given lectures and presentations on glass.

Areas of Specialization:

Computational modeling for structural and thermal design optimization of glazing systems. Mr. Chamberlain was one of the first group of ten people certified by the National Fenestration Rating Council to serve as the "Individual-in-Responsible-Charge" of a laboratory accredited by NFRC to issue product ratings

Angle specific spectral models for optimization of the optical properties of fenestration systems

Process control and quality control in the manufacture and fabrication of glass, with emphasis on insulating and laminating technology and the measurement and control of stress during annealing, toughening or bending processes

Fracture mechanics of glass

Specialized spectrophotometric polariscopes, instrumentation used to detect and analyze defects in glass products, and other optical instruments